U.S. teens at risk of vitamin D deficiency, scientists warn
March 13, 2009 by Personal Liberty News Desk
A new study has suggested that one in seven American adolescents is vitamin D deficient.
To perform their analysis, researchers from the Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College used the recent recommendation that the minimum acceptable serum vitamin D level be raised from 11 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) to at least 20 ng/mL.
They concluded more than half of African-American teens are vitamin D deficient and girls had more than twice the risk of deficiency compared with boys.
In addition to that, overweight teens had almost double the risk of their normal-weight peers.
"These are alarming findings," says Dr. Sandy Saintonge, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics and assistant professor of clinical public health at Weill Cornell Medical College. "We need to do a better job of educating the public on the importance of vitamin D and the best ways to get it."
She suggest that a diet rich in vitamin D would includes salmon, tuna, eggs and fortified cereals. Alternatively, vitamin supplements containing 400 IU of vitamin D may be used.
Vitamin deficiency in children can lead to bone problems, including rickets, and in adults it has been linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, impaired immunity and hypertension.
STOP THE PILLS ALREADY!!!
G-d put us naked under the sun, nature assures us abundant Vitamin D through intelligent use of moderate exposure.
Do you profess that people are just too stupid to learn how much sunlight is right for their health??
A glass or two of red wine has been known to be of health benefit for centuries but overindulgence is harmful.
Unless we are preparing ourselves to live underground with nothing but vitamins as nourishment, trust nature above the pharmaceutical companies and lobbyists.
Good food, plenty of exercise and healthy sunlight for a good life.
“THINK SUNLIGHT IS BAD? TRY LIVING WITHOUT IT!”
mori goldlist,
Toronto Canada
The high importance of vitamin D3 in America has been under wraps for a hundred years and establishment medicine which is based on high profits has not promoted the therapeutic value of vitamin D3. Also most people who seem to be positive on vitamin D do not recommend nearly enough for population in vitamin D3 deficit.
African-Americans of all ages are severely deficient in vitamin D to the point of a national disgrace. Since African-Americans cannot absorb nearly as much sunshine as lighter skinned people, they need high supplementation which they don’t get. And the medical establishment fails to recommend it to them. This is serious racial discrimination yet it goes on and on.
There are many foods that have vitamin D in them, particularly fish, yet the shortage is so critical in the general population that vitamin D3 is called for in supplementation.
To demonstrate that the U.S medical establishment is generally against broad supplementation of vitamin D3, Medicare has just ruled that they will not pay for most vitamin D testing.
Bottom line is, everybody should take vitamin D3 at all ages.
It isn’t just teens who develop Vitamin D deficiency. I am 68 years old, and get plenty of eggs, milk, sunshine, and tuna. A couple of months ago I had a routine checkup that showed I was severely deficient in Vitamin D. The doctor put me on a strong dose of D. I need to go back and see if I am still deficient. This can happen to people who really have no reason to believe that anything is wrong, but they just don’t feel right.
Want to supplement to increase your Vitamin D levels? Cod Liver Oil is by far the best source. Check it out at “Nutrition Data”.